Dental surgery in patients on oral anticoagulation therapy

In the daily medical practice there has been an increase in the use of anticoagulant drugs; as a consequence, dental offices are receiving more individuals under this therapy. Nowadays dental surgeons need a broader knowledge of hemostasis and associated therapies in order to offer the best possible assistance. This article presents a retrospective study based on the clinical records of anticoagulated patients using dicoumarin who underwent dental surgical procedures. Twenty-six patients were submitted to forty-seven minor dental surgical procedures without any change to their doses of anticoagulants. Laboratorial evaluations of PT (pro-thrombin time) based on the INR (International Normalized Ratio) were performed for all patients. The results showed that only one patient reported postoperative bleeding which was controlled by local compression. Based on the results of this study and a brief review of publications, the authors suggest that the most adequate conduct for most patients is to maintain anticoagulation therapy and the complementary use of local hemostasis when necessary.

Anticoagulant therapy; oral surgery; local hemostatic